Blue Apron Stock Surges After Beyond Meat Partnership Announcement

Tue Jul 16 2019
Lucy Harlow (4100 articles)
Blue Apron Stock Surges After Beyond Meat Partnership Announcement

Blue Apron Holdings Inc. saw its best day in six months after announcing a tie-up with a hot brand: Beyond Meat Inc.

The struggling meal-kit company will begin introducing products from the alternative-meat startup on its menus in August, New York-based Blue Apron said in a statement. The shares rose as much as 22% on Tuesday, their biggest intraday gain since Jan. 15.

The tie-up may breathe some fresh life into Blue Apron, whose stock has plummeted more than 90% since its 2017 initial public offering turned out to be one of the worst-performing in recent history. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat shares have gained almost seven-fold since their May debut as faux meat has taken off across restaurant and fast-food chains. Beyond Meat extended those gains Tuesday, adding as much as 1.6%.

Blue Apron’s struggles stem from the meal-kit industry’s challenges attracting and retaining customers. Although subscriptions were originally marketed to people who wanted to cook but didn’t know what or how, it was soon beset with complaints: The meals were too expensive, you had to plan ahead, and people felt guilty throwing away all the packaging required to keep ingredients fresh. The nascent meal-kit industry found luring and retaining customers required margin-eating discounts and often didn’t work.

In a bid to reinvigorate growth, Blue Apron got inside brick and mortar retail, but Costco Wholesale Corp. ultimately dropped the meal-kit boxes to make space for seasonal products.

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Lucy Harlow

Lucy Harlow

Lucy Harlow is a senior Correspondent who has been reporting about Commodities, Currencies, Bonds etc across the globe for last 10 years. She reports from New York and tracks daily movement of various indices across the Globe